Comments on: We the peoplehttp://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/2011/08/26/we-the-people/
Models.Behaving.BadlyFri, 14 Sep 2012 09:10:53 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.3By: stat_arbhttp://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/2011/08/26/we-the-people/#comment-162
Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:50:59 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/?p=274#comment-162The intelligentsia.
]]>By: FosterBoondoghttp://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/2011/08/26/we-the-people/#comment-146
Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:21:21 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/?p=274#comment-146Nonsense! This isn’t about this group of people “controlling” that group of people. It’s about us exerting our will over our actions. As someone almost said, we contain multitudes.

For example, I wish I could eat a little bit less every day and thereby lose 15 pounds over the next year. If you gave me a strategy that would allow me to do that without having to constantly exert willpower to keep from impulsively snacking before dinner, I’d adopt it. Because the part of me that wants what’s good in the long term is not the same part of me that causes my hand to reach for the bag of nuts on the counter.

Same deal with automatic investment in 401K’s. We want to have saved for retirement when we get old. But we also want that flat panel TV now and the $1000 is burning a hole in our pocket because it didn’t get put away out of sight. It’s not that complicated. Ms. Irvine is just taking a verbal shortcut instead of spelling it out.

]]>By: EmanuelDermanhttp://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/2011/08/26/we-the-people/#comment-144
Sun, 28 Aug 2011 19:59:55 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/?p=274#comment-144I meant to add: it’s remarkable that behavioral economics has migrated, in some people’s views, from a field of research into a suggested method of controlling people.
]]>By: EmanuelDermanhttp://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/2011/08/26/we-the-people/#comment-143
Sun, 28 Aug 2011 19:57:40 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/?p=274#comment-143Maybe I should read “Nudge”. I haven’t. I glanced at the reviews and my prejudiced prejudgement (WITHOUT having read it) is that I dislike the idea. I don’t like liberal paternalism, though I might have when I was younger. It feels like elitist manipulation to me. Remind me of this sleep-teaching of the betas in Brave New World:

“Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m awfully glad I’m a Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don’t want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly colour. I’m so glad I’m a Beta.”

That said, I understand that someone is nudging and pushing you all the time. That’s not what I voted for though.

]]>By: FascistNationhttp://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/2011/08/26/we-the-people/#comment-141
Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:48:55 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/?p=274#comment-141I’m taking a wild guess, but We = Me and those who agree with me.
]]>By: JohnHumphreyhttp://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/2011/08/26/we-the-people/#comment-140
Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:35:47 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/?p=274#comment-140EconTalk’s Russ Roberts explores that exact point in this hour long interview with ‘Nudge’ author, Richard Thaler. Highly recommended. http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featur ing/richard_thaler/
]]>By: RedItalianhttp://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/2011/08/26/we-the-people/#comment-139
Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:37:39 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/?p=274#comment-139Scary echoes of Ethical State….
]]>By: Torsten1966http://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/2011/08/26/we-the-people/#comment-138
Fri, 26 Aug 2011 09:14:23 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/?p=274#comment-138Ten percent of the people of the world know the truth of existence, and those elites opt to keep 85 percent of the world in ignorance and under their controlling thumb. The remaining percentage are those who know the truth and are determined to enlighten the rest. (Believe of the Five Percent Nation)

So – “we” are the 10%, “people” are the 85%.

I am one of the 5%, and you are almost there as well

]]>By: Bootvishttp://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/2011/08/26/we-the-people/#comment-137
Fri, 26 Aug 2011 05:57:25 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/emanuelderman/?p=274#comment-137Oh I think you know Anyways Nudge by Thaler & Sunstein is a great book on, among others, this subject.